Akatsuki Teitoku
by CapitaniRomani
Summary: After 7 years apart, the Akatsuki-class sisters are to be reunited. On top of this, the eldest sister has the honor of becoming the first kanmusu to be given command of a base and its assigned flotilla. A little slice of life of an elegant lady's command, with a dash of drama, action, and humor.
1. Chapter 1 - Homecoming

**CHAPTER 1: HOMECOMING**

Day Before Arrival, Late Morning

Cutting through the water at a leisurely 12 knots, heavy cruiser Suzuya heaved a sigh. It had always been a long shot, but it had been her ambition to become the first kanmusu to be given high command.

For most shipgirls, becoming secretary ship of a major fleet base was as close as it got. But they didn't _really_ do anything. Sure it was more prestigious than becoming a division or even squadron flagship, but it was more like being a class representative from school than an actual leader. Not that Suzuya would know anything about class representatives or schools-she'd never experienced growing up or any of its rites of passage, after all. She'd just appeared out of thin air one day, fully formed.

"So close. So damn close." She sighed again. Her new assignment was in view-Kushimoto Frontier Base.

"Aye. We're almost there." It was her escort of the day, the destroyer Hibiki. Who was actually escorting whom was a bit arguable-Suzuya had picked her up from the shipgirl recovery station at Lake Biwa on her way from Kure. The small girl was not yet at a hundred percent capacity.

"Hm? Oh, right. Yep, we're 4 nautical miles and closing. Start winding down your boilers." Unlike other forms of marine propulsion, such as diesels or gas turbines, steam-driven ships couldn't just start and stop in a snap. Power had to be slowly ramped up and down as needed. Anything else would manifest as muscle cramps and nausea to a shipgirl.

"Ah. You weren't talking about the base, were you?"

Suzuya turned her head. "Oh? That's perceptive of you, Hibiki-san. And direct. But you're right, I'm juuust slightly let down at losing to Akatsuki-chan."

Hibiki carefully examined her face. There was no venom there-just a smile that radiated genuine warmth with a tinge of mournfulness. "Sorry. This was sudden for me as well. I've been thinking about it during our whole trip-no-ever since they told me last week."

"It's _fiiine_. I still have some of my high from beating Nagato and Ooyodo. That makes up for being demoted at the last minute." She paused to think for a moment. "I guess it's not really a demotion if it happened before I officially got the promotion in the first place."

"What did Akatsuki-chan even _do_ in America?"

"Classified." Suzuya turned back towards their destination. "But I've been briefed, and she definitely deserves this."

* * *

Kushimoto Frontier Base was so brand-new it wasn't even technically finished yet. At the southern tip of Wakayama prefecture, southeast of the Kii Channel, it was supposed to guard the eastern approach into the Inland Sea and Osaka Bay. Two smaller, existing bases had already been doing that, and Kushimoto was supposed to combine them for maximum efficiency. But Kushimoto had to be pressed into service much earlier than expected, as the JMSDF and US Navy 7th fleet scrambled to react to chaotic events. It was just normal way things happened ever since the Abyssal War started.

"Hibiki-chan!" Inazuma leapt onto her sister as she ascended the boat ramp. Suzuya was behind her with a grin on her face.

"Oof-Why this excited? You visited me just last month."

"This bigger than a visit, Hibiki-chan! We're actually assigned together, nanodesu!"

"Ikazuchi-chan, why are you just fidgeting back there? You weren't this nervous last month. Are we walking back all the progress we made?" Hibiki stretched out her arm, inviting her other sister to hug the opposite side of where the first one was still holding on to her.

"Don't be mean, Hibiki-chan." Inazuma continued to clutch tightly, burying her face into her shoulder.

"Sorry, nee-san." Ikazuchi tentatively stepped towards her. "It's just..."

"Ah. No, it should be me who should apologize. You must be anxious about meeting Akatsuki-chan for the first time."

* * *

"Well, well." Light cruiser Yuubari approached Suzuya with arms crossed and a wry smile. "Welcome to your new home, Vice Commander."

"Sup', Ops."

After a short pause, they threw their heads back in laughter.

"I don't get it. What's so funny?" It was auxiliary repair ship Akitsushima, standing behind Yuubari with her hands on her hips.

"Just an inside joke. Last time we met in person was a month ago," said Suzuya. "It was a conference in Kure regarding this very base. But Yuubari was Vice Commander and Agano was the Operations Officer."

"Yikes."

"How is she, by the way?"

"I'd thought you'd know better than we would," said Yuubari. "She's in Kure's brig, isn't she?"

"Yokosuka, actually. I'm guessing that means you haven't visited her?"

"Ugh, I would, even after what happened, but I've been too busy setting things up here."

"I'm sure she'll be out soon. Incredible stupidity and questionable taste in men aren't court-martial offenses."

"If only." Yuubari rolled her eyes.

"Wouldn't that mean you'd both be in jail as well?" Akitsushima crossed her arms.

Their subordinate was going too far, but the two cruisers, light and heavy, had already accepted their lots in life.

"Of course." It was Suzuya who made the reply. "But after all that happened, I could have used a long vacation."

* * *

"You don't have anything to worry about, Ikazuchi-chan. By all accounts, Akatsuki-chan is a much warmer person than I am, and you like _me_ , don't you?"

The three sisters had left the quay and were walking arm-in-arm to the barracks. Hibiki's personal effects were already there waiting for her, having been shipped directly from storage at her last active posting. She hadn't taken them with during her latest spell at Lake Biwa.

"She knows that, nanodesu. Don't push her or you'll make it worse."

Ikazuchi, walking in the middle, pulled both sisters closer to her. "You don't need to protect me, Inazuma-chan," she said in a cheery voice. "Nee-san is right, I'm probably overthinking this."

"She was very close to the previous Ikazuchi, I'm sure she's been looking forward to finally meeting you."

Ikazuchi bowed her head and stared at her shoes. "That's what's making me so nervous."

"Hibiki-chan... Always so tactless!"

Ikazuchi chuckled, straightening back up while pulling Inazuma and Hibiki even closer. "That just reminded me of the first time I met you, nee-san. It's what I needed, thanks!"

* * *

"Geez, what got _her_ panties in a twist?" Suzuya shook her head. Unlike Hibiki, she'd brought luggage. A lot of luggage. She pulled a stack of it behind her in a cart as she walked alongside Yuubari. But rather than unpacking it in her quarters first, she dragged them with her to the administration building as she got caught up to speed.

"Oh don't mind her, miss auxiliary repair ship is just annoyed at being reassigned so suddenly. She'd prefer to be tending to her cute lil' seaplanes."

"I feel her. Kitakami was supposed to have the job."

"Yup, but remember the reason we have to open this place up ahead of schedule in the first place-disciplinary problems! Kitakami is riiight out."

" _Yeeesh_."

Kushimoto was supposed to replace two bases-Tanabe, which hosted an escort squadron, and Wakayama, which had a minesweeping unit. Agano was the secretary ship of the Tanabe escorts, while Yuubari was the shipgirl secretary _and_ operations officer of the Wakayama minesweepers. In a curious coincidence, Agano's boyfriend was the commander of Wakayama, while Yuubari's husband (provisional) was the supply officer of Tanabe. Because of this, they often visited each other's bases while never having much reason to talk with each other.

"Were you serious about being up to visit Agano?"

"Of course I am, this wasn't her fault."

During one surprise visit to Tanabe, she'd bumped into Agano. In her marital (provisional) bed.

"She's kinda like... A grown-up Ushio-chan. Very exploitable."

" _Pfft_." Suzuya stopped in her tracks, almost tripping over when the momentum of her luggage cart pushed it into her ankles.

When Yuubari had stormed out of her husband's quarters, she was stone-faced. It was Agano chasing after her that was bawling her eyes out. A big part of that was probably because Yuubari screamed about her lack of decency. She must have misinterpreted it to be about abstract personal morals, rather than what was actually meant-that Agano was running in the hallway without clothes on.

"I was the idiot. The signs had been there for months and I chose to ignore them." Yuubari sighed. "I guess if it was just Agano-san, I _would_ be pretty mad with her."

Tanabe's supply officer was pretty much sleeping with every woman that looked of age in the little base, as well as some that did not. The JMSDF and USN 7th Fleet tolerated a lot of shipgirl-related... antics... (for lack of a better term)-even ones that were PR disasters. But this clearly crossed the line. He was quietly booted from service. If it had ended at this point, that would have been one thing...

Yuubari's commander in Wakayama got the curious idea that the "wrong" "done to him" would be righted if he slept with Yuubari. He was never forceful, per se, but he'd propositioned her several times a day over the course of a week. Yuubari wasn't in the right head space to handle the pressure, so she checked out-literally. Going over her CO's head, she requested and received leave through Kure Naval District's personnel office. Her CO descended to an even worse mental state. To him, he'd just been spurned twice in the span of a week.

"I'm lucky I was busy watching anime on Akashi's couch the day it all went down."

A routine grain convoy was on its way to unload at the port of Kobe. Tanabe's escort force met them 100 nautical miles out in the Pacific, to beef up their protection for the approach (often the most dangerous part of a journey). Meanwhile, Wakayama's minesweeper force was to make _extra_ sure that their path was clear. They'd done this a thousand times before.

But they'd never done this while the two bases weren't communicating with each other-Wakayama out of anger, Tanabe out of shame. They'd certainly never done it while one base was plagued by incredibly low morale (the human command staff of Tanabe were to be shuffled off to run lighthouses in Hokkaido). And most crucially, they'd never done it while the other base's commander was going bug nuts and making increasingly questionable decisions.

It could have been worse. Only two grain ships were sunk, and they were close enough to the coast that their crews were easy to rescue. Several destroyer girls were also injured, but not critically. Most importantly, the ones hurt were Japanese and American shipgirls based in Tanabe, rather than any of the visiting Australians that came with the convoy-that meant the incident could be contained, and didn't necessarily have to be international.

"A tiny part of me thinks that if I'd been there, I could have prevented him from screwing up the mine-clearing."

"Um, more likely you'd be in jail with Agano and all the other staffers."

"That's why i said a tiny part."

* * *

Day Before Arrival, Noon

"Lunchtime!" Inazuma shouldered through the doorway into her shared room with an armful of combat rations. "Sorry about this... There aren't any cooks assigned here yet. Because of what happened, all human staff have to be vetted all over again."

"Thank you, it's fine." Hibiki ate with gusto. The short trip to Kushimoto from Lake Biwa via Osaka was the first time she had performed any extended physical activity since she began her latest recovery period. Unused to exertion, her boilers seem to have sucked her fuel tanks dry at twice the normal rate. "It's a shame we don't have Kinesaki here, or even better, Irako."

The IJN only had 8 food supply shipgirls in all. They were concentrated in the major fleet bases-the dozens of minor outposts dotting the coastlines of Japan had to make do with JMSDF cooks and stewards.

"The galley is already set up, nanodesu. But the only ones who know how to cook are Yuubari-san and Akitsushima-san. They're so busy during the day that they only do dinner."

"There aren't any human staff at Lake Biwa either, so I had to cook all my meals there. I can make breakfast and lunch for the three of us starting tomorrow."

"Ooh, can I watch, nee-san? I want to learn so that you could rely on me too!"

"Same, nanodesu!"

 _Khorosho_. Hibiki noted Ikazuchi's enthusiasm. This was the most comfortable she'd been around her since she was summoned. Or re-summoned-this was a philosophical question many shipgirls pondered about themselves and their duplicate sisters.

In any case, it had been difficult for them to bond since they'd never been assigned together in the three years since the second Ikazuchi appeared. Fortunately, she'd been in good hands with Inazuma the entire time. That kind of luck was exceedingly rare-kanmusu were sent where they were needed, without regard to family ties. Many ended up thousands of nautical miles from their nearest sisters. But now three of them were together, and soon, all four of the Akatsuki sisters would be assigned to the same base.

"By the way," said Hibiki as she finished her meal. "Who else is here other than you two, Yuubari-san, and Akitsushima-san?"

"That's everyone." Inazuma heaved a long sigh. "Ikazuchi and I were the only ones from old Tanabe base that got to stay. Our squadronmates had to be sent to the docks in Kure. Wakaba hit a mine and Fumizuki was struck by friendly fire. The rest were hurt pretty badly too."

"From what I heard, Fumizuki will probably have to stay at Lake Biwa for a while after she's done with the docks." Ikazuchi grimaced.

Hibiki put her arm around Ikazuchi. "Look on the bright side-when she comes back, she'll be able to cook you an amazing meal."

* * *

When Yuubari and Suzuya finally arrived at the latter's new office, the heavy cruiser had wasted no time before dropping a bombshell.

" _What_? We're activating in a week? _That's crazy_!" Yuubari did not approve.

"There's no choice. Shima Frontier Base cant handle our area of responsibility _in addition_ to theirs for longer than that without screwing up spectacularly worse than our predecessors did."

"Ugh! We raided Tanabe and Wakayama for equipment, so we almost have the docks and arsenal ready, but we don't have the manpower for them or any of the other operations. We _can't_ have the manpower-the kanmusu barracks are only half-finished and the human ones are just plain uninhabitable!"

"That's fine, because they won't be able to assign humans here for a while anyway, and barely any kanmusu."

Yuubari dropped to her knees and flailed her arms exaggeratedly.

"I know, I know. Nobody's happy here. Command didn't decide these things just to piss you off."

The light cruiser rose back to her feet. "Ugh, sorry. Obviously they're gonna send more people before the week is up, right? Who are we getting?"

"Akatsuki-chan-excuse me- _Commander_ Akatsuki will get here tomorrow with a couple of tag-alongs, but I don't know who. Kure is prepping a new destroyer division right now and they'll be sent over in a day or two with some support ships."

"Support ships?" Yuubari's head perked up.

"Oooh, you might like this. A couple of tugs, the minesweepers, Hayasui, and a certain seaplane tender with an obsession with tinkering much like a light cruiser I know."

"You can't be..."

"Yup."

"Norton Sound?!"

"The one and only."

Norton Sound was a Currituck-class seaplane tender, originally built to support PBY Catalina squadrons. She was kind of like a beefed-up Akitsushima. But that was only her first career. For 38 of the 41 years her real steel hull was in commission, she was a _Missile Testing Ship_. She was even the first ship to carry the Aegis combat system and VLS.

"Ohoho, I have so many projects I can assign to her at the arsenal..."

"Yuubari."

"Our R&D program going to rival Yokosuka's, no, China Lake's! No! Area 51's!"

"Yuubari!" Suzuya grabbed her shoulders and pushed down.

"Eh?"

"She'll be here as a seaplane tender."

"Nooo! What a waste!"

* * *

Day of Arrival, Very Early Morning

Dinner had been a bit plain-just curry rice and it wasn't even Friday. It was Yuubari's turn to cook, and she had run a little late-giving Suzuya a tour and transferring to her the (temporary) command of the base took most of the afternoon. Hibiki helped clean up in the galley afterwards and used that opportunity to prepare her ingredients for breakfast the next day.

"Today we start with something simple," said Hibiki in the morning. "You already know how to prepare miso soup, right?"

"Of course, nanodesu."

"Yup!"

"Then do that first before we move on to the tamagoyaki."

Hibiki took care of the rice while the other two made soup. Afterwards, their first tries making tamagoyaki were surprisingly neat-an enormous credit to the ability of their helmsmen and quartermaster fairies to follow navigational instructions.

" _Khorosho_ , I'm sure you'll be ready to do sashimi in no time."

Ikazuchi giggled at that. "Ah, you're not going to make one for yourself, nee-san?"

Hibiki had put away the eggs and seasonings and dropped some kind of stuffed dough onto the skillet. "No, I usually have an Indian breakfast in the morning. I'm not sure if you'd like paratha, but you're welcome to try it."

"Ooh, Inazuma-chan told me about the time you and Akatsuki-onee-san were loaned to the Indian Navy."

"Actually, only she was. The whole time I was in the hospital in Kolkata, I was still on the Singaporean Navy list. She requested the transfer so she could stay with me instead of returning to Singapore, but it was a mistake to do that..."

Hibiki never had a chance to perform missions in Indian waters-she'd struck a mine while approaching the port of Kolkata with their convoy. After a month of docking and resting, Hibiki was sent to Vietnam by overland train. She wasn't yet seaworthy, but the Indians were desperate to make room in their shipgirl facilities. They determined that it was more efficient for her to finish convalescing at Naval Base Hai Phong (conveniently using up non-Indian resources).

If Akatsuki had just elected to return with the convoy they'd originally escorted, they would have probably reunited after Hibiki was discharged in Vietnam. Instead, shortly after she took her train trip, Akatsuki's path east was cut off by the Nicobar and Andaman Island Emergency. The Indians also needed every ship they could get-both girl and steel-in order to lift the blockade of Mumbai. Akatsuki was sent west.

"Ah! Spicy, nanodesu!"

"Yeah, Yuubari's curry lacked kick, so I added something to the leftovers."

"You put last night's curry in your pancake?!"

* * *

Day of Arrival, Early Morning

"Welcome to Kushimoto Frontier Base, _shireikan_!" Suzuya presented her sharpest salute.

"Suzuya-san!" Akatsuki returned the salute from the bottom of the boat ramp. "Thank you, but I'm not in command yet until I report in person at Kure. Or at least that's what they told me."

"Ooh, then I get to keep command for a little bit longer. And who are these cuties with you?"

The taller girl behind Akatsuki snorted, while the shorter one blushed. The tall one gave her own salute.

"Gearing-class destroyer, Higbee reporting!"

"Nice! I've never seen a Gearing in action, but I've worked with your Fletcher cousins." Suzuya saluted back.

The little one didn't introduce herself and instead hid behind Akatsuki.

"So cute!" Suzuya stepped down the boat ramp and stopped right in front of her, bending over to face her at her own eye level. "Hi there, I'm Suzuya. I hope I'm not scary. Do you speak Japanese?"

"It's okay, Suzuya's my new assistant, like Meredith was." Akatsuki paused. "Okay, not like Meredith. Suzuya's a lot nicer, totally a first class lady. Come and say hi to her!" She wrapped her arm around the little one's shoulder and pushed her towards the cruiser.

"First class lady?" The little girl stared at her shoes.

"For sure. Elegant as hell. Way more than my sister Kumano."

"I-I'm Auk-class minesweeper Ch-Chickadee."

"Chickadee! Omigod, that name is almost as cute as you are!" Suzuya couldn't help herself and lifted the minesweeper girl into her arms.

"Eep!" Chickadee held on tight, further overloading Suzuya's heart.

"Come on up, Akatsuki-san, your sisters are waiting up on the quay." Suzuya already had Chickadee sitting on her shoulders.

* * *

"Akatsuki-chan!" Inazuma leapt onto her sister as she ascended the boat ramp. Suzuya and Higbee behind her had grins on their faces.

"Yes, yes, I'm glad to be home too." Akatsuki wrapped her arms around her. "Hibiki-chan, Ikazuchi-chan, don't just fidget back there, make this a group hug like old times!"

The last three words _'like old times'_ sent a chill down Ikazuchi's spine. She had been inching forward, just behind Hibiki, but she became paralyzed by her sister's memory of someone that wasn't her.

After what seemed like an eternity, she was shaken from her trance by a hand reaching out to squeeze her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about that, Ikazuchi-chan, Your big sister's mouth is faster than her brain. Let's introduce ourselves properly this time. I'm Akatsuki, first ship of the third-generation of the special-type destroyers."

"I-I'm Ikazuchi, n-not Kaminari-WAAAAAAAAAH!"

Akatsuki, Hibiki, and Inazuma descended upon the fifth member of their family, wrapping her in their arms.


	2. Chapter 2 - Important Work

**CHAPTER 2: IMPORTANT WORK**

7 Years Before  
South China Sea, Midday  
Waters Southwest of Manila and East of Cam Ranh

It wasn't fair. There were only two bombers this time, compared to the dozen that came a half hour ago. It's not like the girls were complacent either-the formation was textbook and the maneuvering was precise and timely. But just because you do everything correctly and make no mistakes doesn't mean you will win. The enemy pressed its attack and the attack connected. The girls zigged when they needed to zag.

Akatsuki-chan, let her go!" Inazuma's face was a torrent of tears.

"We're an hour away from Northeast Cay at full speed, we can beach her there. She just needs to de-summon her rigging so I can carry her."

"Akatsuki-chan, she's already gone! Please let her hand go, we need to retreat!"

The eldest sister's proposal was unrealistic. As part of the Spartly Islands, Northeast Cay was deep in Abyssal territory. Her grip was firm and her stance rigid. The waves rolled around her, but she would not drift nor budge. Ikazuchi was her anchor, fixing her in place. There were no tears in her eyes, no break in her voice - just total serenity.

"Please, Inazuma-chan. With our combined engine power, we can lift her head out of the water so she can hear me. After she de-summons her rigging, I can take it from there."

"Wait!" Kuroshio thrust her left hand in the air. She had been keeping watch in order to allow the sisters to grieve. "New contacts bearing east. I'm picking them up on ESM, no range estimate."

"You heard her didn't you? We have to go _NOW_!"

"Eh? That's a pretty strong spike, they should be in visu-there! Signal lamp!" Kuroshio darted her head eastwards.

"That's our convoy's recognition code." Hatsushimo, the division flagship, raised her guns and moved her finger to the trigger. For the whole day so far, they'd been repeatedly ambushed by abyssals using their own signals against them.

Inazuma turned away from Akatsuki for the first time since the... aftermath... of the last attack. She trained her own guns towards the same bearing as Hatsushimo's. For her part, Kuroshio remained still, with her own main battery turret held in one hand dangling against her hips as she continued to devote her full attention to her sensors.

Hatsushimo's Destroyer Division 21 consisted of Hatsushimo herself, Akatsuki as her assistant, and rounded out by Ikazuchi and Kuroshio. Inazuma was not a part of their unit-she had been running plane guard for the carrier Kaiyou, but attached herself to DesDiv21 when her charge was disabled by a torpedo in the early morning. The poor girl had been taken aboard a cruiser's sick bay and no longer needed any kind of escort.

The reinforced DesDiv21 had set off from the main body off the convoy, tasked by their commander to find some missing human-crewed ships that been scattered from the flanks of the convoy. They never found the ships, just a never-ending series of ambushes from submarine torpedoes and land-based bombers.

"No, stand down, I can see them more clearly now." Kuroshio breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just Shiranui's division. I see Kagerou, Hibiki-"

"Kuroshio-san?" Inazuma glanced over to her wide-eyed divisionmate. "Kuroshio-san!"

She raised her turret to her chest and gripped it tightly, her knuckles turning as white as the remains of the tattered gloves around her fingers. "I only count the two of them."

Shiranui's Destroyer Division 14 was herself, her assistant Hibiki, with Kagerou and Shinonome. Kuroshio already knew in her heart that the Akatsuki-class weren't the only ones who would lose sisters that day, but she'd been hoping against hope that her own class would be passed over for tragedy. She froze in place.

Kagerou bore down on her at high speed and enveloped her in an embrace. "I screwed up. She told me this was gonna happen, but I didn't listen."

Behind Kagerou, Hibiki sported the same expression that Inazuma had earlier seen on Kuroshio. She stared past her, eyes locked on Akatsuki, coming to a full stop several shipgirl-lengths in front of Inazuma.

"Thank God you're here, Hibiki-chan. Give me a hand, I can't do this myself. Ikazuchi must have taken on a lot of water. Once we secure her for towing, we can help her pump out her machinery spaces."

Hibiki remained still, not acknowledging her elder sister's voice.

" _Please_ , Hibiki, _I'm losing my grip_!"

Startled, Hibiki lurched forward and brushed past a dumbstruck Inazuma.

"Akatsuki-chan... What happened?"

"She was knocked unconscious, she just needs a little help to wake up and get righted."

She stared at her eldest sister for what seemed like an eternity before she instantly de-summoned her rigging. After instantly losing the ability to float on her feet, she exhaled deeply in order to further reduce her human body's buoyancy and sink deeper into the sea. Once she dropped to Ikazuchi's depth, she wrapped her arms around her and re-summoned her rigging, rebounding back to the surface with her sister held tight.

Akatsuki was thrown back by the sudden movement and landed on her bottom on the roiling sea surface. She looked upwards, but it took her moments to comprehend what she saw: Ikazuchi's eyes were wide open, but there was no light behind them. She was just plain gone. Akatsuki's scream reverberated throughout their part of the South China Sea.

* * *

Present Day, Shortly Before Noon  
Kushimoto Frontier Base

A shipgirl woke up in a cold sweat. She looked at the clock. She'd only dozed off for twenty minutes... The nightmare itself wasn't as distressing as the fact that it had returned after an absence of three years. Why now again, of all times?

* * *

Day of Arrival, Late Afternoon  
Kure Naval District HQ

After dropping off her bags and trip-mates at Kushimoto, Akatsuki and Yuubari immediately proceeded to Kure Naval Base and presented themselves to the commander of the district's coastal patrol forces, Rear Admiral Ijuin Kiyoshi. Also present were Ijuin's staff and the shipgirls about to be assigned Kushimoto. They briefly exchanged salutes and _tried_ to get down to business.

"As you were, Commander. Welcome back to Japan."

"Thanks, Lieutenant Com-I mean Admiral! Oops, sorry!"

Ijuin's face strained as he struggled to hold back laughter. Most of the men, women, and shipgirls in the room were mortified-standing behind Akatsuki, the battleship Nagato was burying her face into her hands.

"It's fine, it's fine! Even I'm not used to the star yet." He tapped his shoulder boards. "I know three grades in seven years feels sudden, but c'mon, kid, I'm sad that you think I'd be passed over for promotion for almost a whole decade."

"You can't call me a kid, I'm a Commander now!"

He reached out and ruffled her hair. "Still the same as ever, eh? At least you're not calling me _just_ Lieutenant anym-" He cut himself off when he realized that the whole room was staring at him wide-eyed. Ijuin had the reputation of being a gruff stickler, a real martinet. Only three people in the room ever knew him like this. The first, of course, was himself. The second one just slapped his hand away after pulling it out of her hair. The third...

" _Ahem_." Standing in the back of the room with her arms crossed, Hatsushimo was rolling her eyes.

"Right. Don't worry everyone, I haven't gone down with a fever or anything. Commander Akatsuki and I go way back-I used to be her babysitter."

The lady in question grumbled and reached up to pinch his ear.

He was not that far off the mark. The first time they met, Lieutenant Ijuin was her instructor on modern air defense tactics at the JMSDF's kanmusu training establishment at Etajima. The last time they were together, Lieutenant Commander Ijuin was the human CO of DesDiv21, leading from the rear in a steel ship that was supposed to be outside the combat area.

"Admiral. Commander. Please." It was Nagato, with a serious expression.

"Oh come on, I don't want _you_ of all people lecturing me about losing self-control around a destroyer."

"Admiral!"

Ijuin might have gone too far. He and Nagato weren't exactly on familiar terms-she was there as a representative of his boss, Vice Admiral Totsuka, the commander of Kure Naval District. She was also wearing two hats for the meeting-first as Kure Naval Base's secretary ship and second as Admiral Totsuka's adjutant, a JMSDF officer in her own right.

"Apologies, Lieutenant Commander. We will refrain from further childishness from this point." He still greatly outranked her, however, and could therefore brush off such a _faux pas_ as if it didn't matter. He'd pay for this later, he was sure, but it was still worth it to briefly relive one moment from his happy days with one of his old friends. His face returned to the grim mask that everyone else was familiar with. "Now then, enough with this impromptu reunion. We can schedule a party after all the important work is finished."

Unfortunately, as long as the Abyssals existed, the important work would never finish.

* * *

"Commander, when I promised the Lieutenant Commander that the childishness would end, it also applied to you." Ijuin was rubbing his temples.

"I'm not being childish!"

Akatsuki had been offered a pool of destroyers to choose among in order to form Kushimoto's second destroyer division (the first one had her sisters plus Higbee as DesDiv29). She proposed organizing _Hatsu_ shimo, _Hatsu_ yuki, _Hatsu_ zuki, and _Hatsu_ kaze into DesDiv30.

"Fine, I know I can trust you. But could you at least justify your choices to reassure my staff?" He glanced past Akatsuki's shoulder towards a frowning Yuubari. "And it looks like your Operations Officer needs some reassurance as well."

"First, Hatsushimo as the flagship." She gave a curt nod to the girl, who acknowledged it with a curt nod of her own from her corner of the room. "She was _my_ last flagship before I left Japan. I know her and trust her judgment." Akatsuki was probably the only one. A court of inquiry had been convened to investigate the battle that led to the first Ikazuchi's loss, and it found her performance as flagship wanting. She hadn't held a position of responsibility ever since. "I reject the letter of reprimand in her file."

Murmurs fluttered around the room. The inquiry that generated that reprimand was regarded as sacred by the JMSDF, US Navy 7th Fleet, Philippine Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy, and all kanmusu forces around the Pacific Rim. For Akatsuki to disregard its findings...

The battle-or more popularly, disaster-of TOSG-2703 ( **TO** kyo to **S** in **G** apore, year 20 **27** , **3** rd convoy of the year) was a turning point in the war. Before it happened, the Abyssals were considered little more than beasts. Always conducting frontal attacks and relying on overwhelming brute force, they had never shown any capacity for creative thought nor a grasp of even the most basic tactics. Nobody was under the illusion that the war would be over any time soon, but they had started thinking of it as a large pest control operation rather than an existential struggle.

Then Ikazuchi died. Shiranui and Shinonome went down with her a scant few miles away. In all, 18 kanmusu and 8 human-crewed steel warships from 4 countries were sunk during that dark day in the South China Sea. It wasn't even close to the heaviest loss that the forces of humanity suffered during the war, but it was the first heavy loss in a decade since the early first days when kanmusu were just starting to be summoned. The court of inquiry and its investigation were the soul-searching the kanmusu and navies needed to do, and its findings were their catharsis.

"I wasn't here when it was happening, I just emailed my statement from Singapore. If I'd been called as a witness, I would have given the judges a piece of my mind."

Nagato's expression hardened. She had been one of the six judges-three of them kanmusu-appointed to the court. "Can we go back to the task at hand, Commander? What about the rest of your choices?"

"Right. Next is Hatsuyuki, I want her to be the assistant to the flagship." Unlike her new division flagship, the girl in question hadn't bothered to show up for the meeting. "Hibiki-chan spoke highly of her in her letters to me, so when I found out she was available, I knew she would be most _conductive to personal derailment_." She said the last term in English.

The staffers all looked at each other, perplexed.

"Did you mean _conducive to personnel development_?" Ijuin was grinning again.

"That's what I said!"

"I'm sorry." Nagato shook her head. "How could that possibly be true? She's always checking into Lake Biwa to avoid wor-" She caught herself too late-Akatsuki was frowning at her.

"The way Hibiki described it, she's always saying encouraging things to the other patients and helping them recover more quickly. I'm going to get a lot of people at Kushimoto soon that have never worked with each other before. I think she'll be a big help in bringing everyone together and mentoring the new summons."

Nagato sighed. "I can agree that you've thought it through, even if I disagree that the girl is anything like what you say. What about the other two?"

"Hatsuzuki is the only antiaircraft destroyer available. She'll be Higbee's counterpart in DesDiv30."

Nagato, Yuubari, and the staffers nodded.

"Hatsukaze is, err, um."

"Has _Hatsu_ in her name." Ijuin smirked.

"B-but that's fine if that's the reason for only one of them, isn't it?"

* * *

7 Years Before  
South China Sea, Afternoon  
Hangar of JS Ashigara DDG-178

"Lieutenant! Oh my God, Lieutenant! What happened to you?!" Akatsuki buried her face in Ijuin's chest.

"Argh, you're hurting me worse than the abyssals, kid."

"Sorry! But there's so much blood!"

"It's okay, only half of it is mine. The rest is _supposed to be_ mine, but they spilled it on me during my emergency transfusion." Ijuin smiled weakly. He so desperately wanted to wail and cry about USS Antietam, the ship he had been aboard before it took three torpedoes amidships and snapped in half, but he'd just heard what happened to Ikazuchi. He had to be strong and hold it together for Akatsuki's sake. "I'll be fine, thanks to you and the other girls. You did good work, kid."

"But we failed! We couldn't find RSS Formidable _or_ BRP Gregorio del Pilar."

When his chest started warming up, he was worried that he was bleeding out again. When he realized it was Akatsuki's hot tears, he became even more worried. "But you found Kagerou and Hibiki, didn't you? You weren't looking for them, but you were the ones who saved them. We goofed when we sent their rescue party in the wrong direction, just like we goofed when we sent you to find those ships in the wrong direction-the Chinese found Gregorio del Pilar adrift towards Hainan. They've picked up the surviving crew and are towing the hull back to Manila."

"What about Formidable?"

"Still no sign of her, I'm afraid. But we can't lose hope, if only because the battle isn't over yet." He paused. "But why are you the one reporting to me? Where's Hatsushimo?"

"She's aboard USS Shiloh, trying to comfort Nenohi. She lost two of her divisionmates this afternoon."

He sighed. _Why did that girl go to her own sister when two kanmusu under her own command lost sisters of their own?_ "You're a strong lady, Akatsuki. I wish we could do more for you."

Ijuin (as well as Kuroshio) had no idea that it was Akatsuki who had begged Hatsushimo to visit her distraught sister. She already knew that Ijuin was right-the battle was not over. Who knew if they were going to get through this? Certainly not Akatsuki, who took it upon herself to report to Ijuin and her other superiors so that Hatsushimo and Nenohi could, God forbid, have the last words that she and Ikazuchi never had a chance to share. Nobody could have predicted the negative consequences for the hardworking flagship who was only being sensitive to the feelings of her precious assistant.

* * *

Present Day

"Four minesweepers?! That's way less than what Wakayama had!" Yuubari was looming over a seated Admiral Ijuin, her hands planted on the desk he was sitting behind.

Nagato tapped her gently on the shoulder. "You forget yourself, _Lieutenant_."

"S-sorry, Admiral, but this is a drastic reduction of what Kushimoto was promised when Suzuya, Agano, and I were holding the first version of this meeting a month ago."

Ijuin had winced at the mention of Agano. He opened his mouth to begin his answer, when Akatsuki interrupted him.

"It's fine, it was my idea. We emailed each other about it a day before I arrived."

"Commander! You can't cover the Kii channel with four minesweepers! You should have taken my input before deciding this, I was the operations officer of a minesweeping ba-"

"Yuubari, I'm sorry for acting _underliterally_ -"

"Unilaterally."

"You know what I meant, Lieutenant Commander!"

"Admiral."

"Whatever! But please accept my apology, I was once the flagship of a minesweeping squadron in America, so I was working with my own _expletives_."

"Expertise."

Akatsuki pouted at Ijuin, who just shrugged.

" _Anyway_ , I saw a way to use less kanmusu to do the same amount of work, so I offered to free up minesweepers for other bases and fronts in exchange for getting some of the other ships and resources that Kushimoto needs."

Yuubari sighed. She could think up of dozens of things that the base needed immediately that weren't even on the horizon. Despite that, however, minesweeping was one of Kushimoto's primary missions and she couldn't wrap her head around the idea of doing it with only a quarter of what she considered the minimum. "So... how are we gonna make it work?"

"If we lay our own mines first, then the abyssals won't be able to lay theirs."

"What."

In exchange for giving up a full squadron of fleet and auxiliary minesweepers, Akatsuki asked for a particular ship right away, a few pieces of equipment, and promises for more ships and other items in the future.

"Cruiser-minelayer Okinoshima, reporting!" The girl in question flashed a V-sign at Yuubari from across the room.

"You see," said Ijuin, "the commander came up with the idea of laying so many defensive minefields along the Kii channel that you'll only have to keep a tiny strip clear for safe passage. A handful of minesweepers should be able to cover that."

"And we're not just getting four minesweepers. I brought Chickadee, remember? That's five fleet minesweepers, plus four kaibokan that we can give light equipment to, that could help our real minesweepers in a pinch."

"If it's that simple, why haven't we done it at every base?"

Ijuin grimaced. "It's _not_ that simple. It frankly sounds like a tremendous pain in the ass. But Akatsuki thinks she can handle it, thinks _you_ and Suzuya can handle it, and thinks Okinoshima and the minesweepers can handle it. Well, _can_ you handle it?"

"Ugh. If my CO has that kind of confidence in me, then I don't want to disappoint her."

"Yay!" Okinoshima practically jumped for joy, then became acutely aware that the entire room was staring at her. "S-sorry, I'm just so happy to finally be able to do my real job."

There hadn't really been a need for minelayers in the Abyssal war. The girls themselves were in high demand because of their versatility, but laying mines wasn't what they were used for most of the time. In particular, Okinoshima had been laying fiber optic cables to keep Japan (and occasionally Taiwan) connected to the Internet, as the Abyssals were fond of snipping them whenever they were found. On average, she had to re-lay cables once a week. Once in a while, they would get cut within hours of being laid. The girl knew that planting mines would be as repetitive as laying cable, but if she had to replenish minefields every week, at least it would be because abyssals were regularly exploding in them.

* * *

With all the initial kanmusu assigned, the rest of the meeting was spent settling more mundane matters. Though Yuubari was annoyed at the sacrifices (not just minesweepers) that Akatsuki made without consulting her or Suzuya, she began to appreciate the horse trading that had been done when she learned that all the major construction would be finished before Kushimoto's activation and that its few shipgirls would be swimming in top of the line equipment. There were a few other perks as well.

"You're coming back tonight?" It was Suzuya on the phone.

"Akatsuki-chan got us a couple of helicopters." Yuubari could barely contain her excitement. "Not just for the trip, but permanently assigned."

"Eh? They said no last month!"

"The commander worked her magic. Also, she gave up our third destroyer division."

" _What_?!"

"Don't worry, she didn't go crazy. We're getting frigates and torpedo boats instead, but they'll have to wait for a couple more weeks."

Yuubari could hear the other girl's sigh of relief.

"Um, what are we going to do about the crew? Are they-"

"Vetted? No. They're not gonna stay at the base, we'll have to call them in when we need them."

"Ugh, that can't be good for efficiency or morale."

"I don't know if this was the Commander or Admiral's idea, but for now they'll be based at Kushimoto General Hospital in the city. It'll just be a short hop away and we can build goodwill with the community by letting them use the choppers when we don't need them. They have priority for vetting too, so hopefully we can work th-" Yuubari suddenly noticed that a woman was standing in front of her, with expectant eyes. How long had she been there? "Hold on a sec. Can I help you?"

"Ah, Miss Yuubari, please continue, this can wait." The woman was somewhat tall, clearly an American. The broad smile on her face was slightly unnerving.

Yuubari uncupped the receiver and returned to her conversation with Suzuya. "I'll forward an email summary of what we got and what we gave up. I'll talk to you when I get back, I think I just met Norton Sound." She clicked ' _end call_ ' when she heard Suzuya's grunt of goodbye.

"Oh, you recognized me? I don't recall us meeting before, I'm sorry if I forgot." Her eyebrows had instantly creased in worry.

"No, it was just a guess. You're the second American assigned to the base and I already met the first one." She gave her a warm smile. "What can I do for you?"

Norton Sound presented her hand, palms up. As Yuubari stared at it in curiosity, a smug fairy with its hands on its hips apparated on top.

"T-that's a gunner, isn't it?"

"Yup!" The fairy in question leapt from Norton Sound's palm and onto Yuubari's shoulder, dissolving into thin air as it joined her crew.

"Oh my God, is she for real? She just reported to my captain as a Mark 42!"

The _127mm/54 Mark 42_ was a destroyer gun mount. But unlike the other destroyer guns that Yuubari was familiar with, it was a postwar weapon-it even served on in the US Navy until the early 90s and the JMSDF until the late 2010s. It was an autoloading weapon in its real steel incarnation, capable of pumping 40 shells a minute into the air against surface targets 25km away or aircraft flying at up to 15,000m of altitude. It even had /onboard radar/ and multiple types of fire directors for use against different kinds of targets. By contrast, Yuubari's historical twin 14cm turrets from the 1920s were only capable of roughly 12 to 20 rounds per minute against surface targets up to 20km away. They had no anti-air capability and no onboard directors. Of course, since kanmusu weren't limited to their historical armament (or even appropriately-sized armament to their displacement), Yuubari hadn't actually touched her old 14cm guns in years. But the Mark 42 was still lightyears beyond anything she'd ever equipped before.

"Yes, ma'am! Only ten of her exist in the world, and no prospects of any more being constructed for a while, so please enjoy."

"A-are you really giving it to me? Thank you so much!"

"Don't even mention it. I've got lots of presents for my new unit-mates. I want to get along with everyone."

"Ohoho." Yuubari wrapped an arm around Norton Sound and began walking back towards the conference room. "We are definitely going to get along for sure."

* * *

"We found Hatsuyuki, sir," said one of the human staffers. "She was at the McDonalds outside the base gate. The workers said she'd been there since last night."

"What in the world?" Ijuin pinched the bridge of his nose. "First of all, why there? Why not the McDonalds _in_ the base?"

Nagato sighed. "I revoked her internet privileges last week. The one inside piggybacks on the base's WiFi network, so she must have been trying to circumvent it."

"Are you sure you still want her, commander? We're pretty eager for you to succeed." Ijuin's voice became low. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I watched you get derailed by a dirt-"

"Please don't worry about me, I know what I'm getting into. She'll be perfect for what I have in mind."

Nagato cleared her throat. "Forgive me for butting into your command prerogatives, but she's gone too far this time. She didn't only violate the terms of her last punishment, but she was also supposed to be on CQ duty last night-she just committed dereliction of duty. I don't like the idea of overlooking this just because she had a change of station at the last second." [ _A/N: CQ is Charge of Quarters, when soldiers are assigned to guard their barracks and handle its communications_ ]

Punishing shipgirls was difficult enough under most circumstances. With very few exceptions, they held no rank in any military and swore no oath towards any country. In effect, they were volunteers in the most pure sense of the term, risking their lives for the sake of humanity as a whole and not technically subject to military law. It worked well enough most of the time, but there were edge cases-Hatsuyuki was one of the prime examples.

Ijuin clasped his fingers together. "First I've heard of her abandoning her post. Strange that the duty runner didn't report that her NCO was missing. That's a terrible example she's setting."

"It's worse than that. _Hatsuyuki_ was the duty runner. The duty NCO at the replacement barracks was Shiranui-san. She never reported that Hatsuyuki was missing and falsified her logs to say that they were both properly relieved. The damage is done and she's corrupted someone _again_."

"Eh? Isn't Shiranui a new summon? Why was she in charge of someone 10 years her senior."

Nagato raised an eyebrow.

" _Even_ if that senior was Hatsuyuki."

"CQ duty twice a week was another term of her latest punishment. And I _thought_ Shiranui had potential. I guess I misjudged her."

Ijuin heaved a long sigh. "Well, commander?"

Akatsuki fidgeted. She'd always hated staff duty and found it hard to stay awake when she was a junior shipgirl, not yet even an assistant to a division flagship. But she'd never gone as far as just getting up and leaving. "I still think she'll be a fine addition to my team... But I'm not gonna ignore what you said Nagato-san, I'll do something about what she did this time."

* * *

The meeting was adjourned. Ijuin and his staffers returned to their other duties, and Akatsuki went off to pick up one of her new subordinates from the brig. But to Nagato, the day's business still wasn't complete. She went after Yuubari, who was chatting with some of the new members of Kushimoto's team.

"I-is this a CH-46?" It was Hayasui, staring wide-eyed at a fairy in her hands.

Norton Sound was a little mournful. "Ah, no. It's an older one, an HRP. We tried really hard, but we just couldn't make any Sea Knights."

"Still." Yuubari was smug. "That means we've got at least /three/ helicopters at our base."

"Oh yeah, for sure," said Norton Sound. "We can't ride inside it obviously, but it can carry almost a ton under its sling."

"Can we ride the sling?"

"Uh. I guess I don't see why no-" She noticed Nagato at the corner of her eye, standing with her back straight and with a stern expression on her face.

"Oh, you need something Nagato-san?" Yuubari noticed her arched eyebrow. "Er, Lieutenant Commander?"

"Just a quick word, Lieutenant." She gave a look at the other two. " _Officer to officer_."

Taking it as a signal to leave, the two support ships bowed and mumbled goodbyes before slipping away.

"I think it's ironic." Nagato began. "The Americans criticized us about our kanmusu commissioning program, told us it was a bad idea, and claimed it would never work. Then they made Akatsuki-san a Commander almost out of nowhere."

"Um..."

"This isn't a criticism of Akatsuki-san... Were you briefed on what got her a battlefield commission?"

"I only skimmed some of it, I've been incredibly busy this past month."

Nagato bit her lip. "She did incredible work. I couldn't have done it, not in a thousand years."

Yuubari nodded. From what little she read... She couldn't disagree. With Kushimoto finishing construction and the command team finally shaping up, she was looking forward to finally finishing poring over the whole damn thing.

"In some ways, I think her elevation reveals some serious flaws in our program, but in other ways there are things we did right that the Americans ignored. Are you aware that they didn't make her take OCS?" [ _A/N: OCS is Officer Candidate School, which is exactly what it sounds like_ ]

Yuubari opened her mouth, but made no sound. That was enough of an answer to Nagato's question.

"That's not really as major an oversight as I'm making it sound-the JMSDF begged and traded for her before she could attend. But still... When we started the program five years ago, we were extra careful and took everything slowly."

Two dozen shipgirls were (secretly) tested, vetted, then selected to attend an accelerated term at the Naval Academy at Etajima. After being commissioned as Ensigns, they were sent off to short tours of duty onboard steel ships as if they were mere humans. Yuubari and Nagato both remembered their cruises fondly and often visited their old ships and attended reunions with their crews.

"I get what you're saying... It's more than just being a brilliant tactician and being a natural leader. It's also the boring stuff, the management."

"Exactly, I'm glad you see what I mean."

"With the extra construction resources you're giving us..."

"You will technically be ready to take in humans as early as the end of next week, but we're going to hold off until we see how she handles just shipgirls. The helicopter crews, even though they'll be off-base, are also part of that preparation. The vetting problems are half-smoke-" Nagato smirked. "-and half dead-serious."

"Well, Suzuya and I are there. We'll have her back and teach her everything we know."

"That's good to hear. But there's more than that. I'm in agreement with Admiral Ijuin, and so is Admiral Totsuka, that Akatsuki must succeed. We don't want her career to be sunk by a couple of disciplinary headaches."

Yuubari grimaced. "Hatsuyuki-san..."

"...and Hibiki-san. The second wouldn't normally be as big a problem as the first one, but she's also the commander's own sister."

Was there something wrong with the air conditioning? Yuubari was slightly annoyed as she wiped sweat from her brow.

Nagato smirked once more. "Even though she was in America, did you know the JMSDF tested her for our program? She didn't pass, of course. Don't tell her that."

"Yikes."

"Yeah. That means we really screwed up our criteria if we could miss a natural like her."

Yuubari shrugged. "You live and learn."

"I'm now a lot less annoyed that Suzuya kicked my ass even though she was tenth place in our class."

* * *

7 Years Before  
South China Sea, Second Morning  
Hangar of JS Ashigara DDG-178

"I-I'm sorry, I j-just lost track of her, it was so hectic." Hatsushimo was crying in Inazuma's arms.

Lieutenant Commander Ijuin was lying on a stretcher at their feet. "How the hell?"

"Kuroshio yelled about an ESM spike at midnight and we braced for shell fire, but it turned out to be a radar-directed torpedo attack. We barely spotted them in time, they were oxygen torpedoes. I dodged hard to port to follow what I thought was her searchlight, but it turned out to be Ayanami. After we heard explosions, our group ran north at flank speed. Akatsuki-san wasn't with us when daybreak hit."

Ijuin became nauseous. _What the-am I losing blood again?_ "Hatsushimo." He clenched his fist. "Don't lose hope yet, this isn't over."

* * *

7 Years Before  
Waters off Palawan, Philippines, Second Afternoon  
Quarterdeck of JS Ashigara DDG-178

Ijuin was glad to be on his feet again, sort of-he had to lean against a bulkhead to stay up and his legs were radiating searing hot pain. But at that moment, the important part was that he still had them, and not even a bone was broken-the spall just happened to take a lot of meat off.

"Kiyoshi, my good man." It was Captain Totsuka, the convoy commander's chief of staff.

"Sir!"

"I just got the report of who we lost overnight."

Ijuin sucked air through his gritted teeth and braced for the bad news.

"RSS Stalwart took a bad hit at the base of her mainmast. Looks like it was a cruiser-caliber shell. Her crews controlled the fire and she's underway on her own power. JS Ariake wasn't as lucky. Torpedoes broke both shafts, and possibly her back, so she was ordered abandoned at dawn."

Ijuin nodded somberly.

"It sounds like it was your Akatsuki that got the sorry task of scuttling her." Totsuka grimaced.

"S-she's-"

"Yup. Hibiki is also with her, as well as Sazanami and Murasame. They're with USS Fort Worth and BRP Gabriela Silang-both only took light damage. The Malaysians scrambled their whole fleet to protect them."

"Oh thank God!" Tears were streaming from his eyes. He was too happy to be properly embarassed at crying in front of his superior.

"Their group retreated the opposite way of ours. They already made landfall at Kuantan, Malaysia and will proceed to Singapore as early as practicable."

* * *

A/N:

Thanks for reading!

I'm planning to have a lot of flashbacks, if you all don't mind-It's something I'm taking from The Godfather, Part II, one of my favorite movies. Two simultaneous, intertwined storylines-one showing the "present", the other showing how we (or really just Akatsuki) got where we are. I'm worried it could get confusing or choppy, but I'll try to thread that needle carefully.

There's another needle I'm trying to thread-Akatsuki _matured_ in some important ways in the 7 years since she left Japan and saw the world, but she's still supposed to be Akatsuki the try-hard elephant lady that everyone knows and loves.

One final thing-I put the Humor tag, and I meant it! The first two chapters feel kinda melodramatic so far, but I promise this will have more light-hearted moments as well.


	3. Chapter 3 - You Gotta Keep On Movin'

**CHAPTER 3: YOU GOTTA KEEP ON MOVIN'**

Present Day, Kushimoto

"Fuck my life." The destroyer Hatsuyuki had just heaved atop the counter a pot that surely must have been half of her own height.

"You're a two thousand-ton warship, a pot of stew should not be a big deal for you." Hibiki was stir-frying vegetables in a wok on the other side of the galley.

"Yeah, let me go ahead and summon my rigging on land. _Not_." Despite Hatsuyuki's dismissiveness, it was sometimes done-being granted inhuman strength and the ability to use heavy weapons was occasionally worth absolutely wrecking whatever a shipgirl was standing on, whether it was a well-manicured lawn or the foundation of a large concrete building along with the bedrock underneath it.

Hibiki put on a slight smile. "Nobody said you had to make such a huge batch."

"I wanted to make it all in one go."

"Of course you did. And you're gonna say ' _It's still worth it because I only have to clean one big thing instead of a lot of small things_ '."

" _Oh crap_." Hatsuyuki went wide-eyed once she re-examined the assumptions that had underlain that train of thought. "The big pot doesn't fit in the dishwasher... I'll have to scrub it by hand."

"Yeah..."

" _Fuuuck_ my life."

The galley's double-doors swung wide open as Inazuma and Ikazuchi pushed inside with sacks of ingredients on their backs.

"You should really watch your language, nanodesu." She dropped her cargo of potatoes and onions in front of Hatsuyuki. "It makes you sound unprofessional and doesn't help your image."

"Tchk." Hatsuyuki raised an eyebrow and darted a glance at Hibiki. The girl in question had long since broken eye contact and was staring intently at her wok of vegetables.

"There." Ikazuchi dropped her load of flour besides where her sister dropped hers. Both girls stood still and looked at Hatsuyuki expectantly. They were met with silence.

Hibiki grunted from the other side of the room.

"Th-thank you for helping me, even though you didn't have to."

"You're welcome." Both girls bowed at her before turning around to rejoin Hibiki and continue their cooking lesson.

Hatsuyuki heaved a sigh. Two more weeks of this crap. All the downloading at McDonalds had gotten her at least a month worth of games and manga, so if she had been left behind at Kure, this would have been worth it. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you looked at things like a normal person), her internet privileges at Kushimoto weren't revoked, so all that trouble had been for nothing.

When she found out her new posting would be under Hibiki's sister, she had high hopes. It was dashed by all the hard work she was expected to do, even outside the punishment for her final antic in Kure. She was starting to miss her stint in the replacement squadron, even with all its boredom and getting yelled at and looked down on.

* * *

"That girl is brazenly just leaving, nanodesu." Inazuma was craning her neck towards the doorway of the mess, which Hatsuyuki had just practically skipped out of.

"It's Akatsuki-chan's dinner time," said Hibiki, who hadn't looked up from eating her food.

"She wasn't carrying anything with her..."

"The CO's quarters have their own galley and pantry, remember?"

"Oh, right, I forgot." She'd also forgotten that the CO was also normally entitled to a personal chef. "Poor Akatsuki-chan, she couldn't think up of a fair punishment that didn't include having to survive on that girl's food."

Hibiki paused eating and looked up. "Sis. Hatsuyuki taught me how to cook."

"Eh?!"

Hibiki put her chopsticks down and got in the chow line, grabbing a plate of rice and beef stew to bring back to her table. Inazuma and Ikazuchi knew what was expected of them and each took a bite.

"T-that tasted a lot better than I would have expected, nanodesu."

"Now imagine if she wasn't just trying to push fifty people's worth of meals out as quickly as possible."

* * *

"Thanks for the meal!" Akatsuki rubbed her hands in anticipation of diving into the steak and fries in front of her.

Suzuya snorted. "Is this what you ate in America all the time? So jealous."

"Ehehe, I wish. The US Navy's dining halls specialized in things like burnt pancakes and mushy rice."

"Same as here, then."

Both girls threw their heads back and laughed.

"I did eat a few fine meals on-base before, befitting a first class lady." She took a bite and made a satisfied moan. "It was whenever I was invited to eat with the command team. I was really looking forward to eating like this all the time when I got my commission."

"Ah, I just remembered that Savannah told me she did that at your base."

"You know Savannah?!"

"Yeah, there's a kind of internet forum for secretary ships. She and I both posted a lot on it." Suzuya had cut back lately, as she had been busy with Kushimoto.

"We should do that here too."

"Agreed. Who will be our first guest?"

Akatsuki turned her head to the black-haired destroyer standing at parade rest off to the side of her dinner table. "Please take a seat, Hatsuyuki."

"A-are you sure?"

"You accidentally made dinner for three, so this is perfect."

The third had actually been meant for Yuubari, but there was a miscommunication and she was too busy to attend dinner with the CO that night. Hatsuyuki had, in fact, cooked four steak meals, with the last being a secret, illegal one for herself. Most maddening of all, the three steaks she had cooked for Kushimoto's command team were medium to well-done, as had been requested-most shipgirls had unsophisticated palettes. Her own stolen meal currently hidden away, that she would be too full to eat when she finally got it, was perfectly rare.

 _Why am I getting all the ironic punishments and self-owns this week_?

* * *

"Huh. Who would have thought that girl was useful for something." Ikazuchi stared at the nearly two dozen shipgirls departing the mess hall with satisfied faces.

"Please don't be harsh towards Hatsuyuki-san." Hibiki had an agitated tone to her voice.

"But nee-san, I heard she hadn't sortied in almost two years!"

"And I'm halfway there myself."

"B-but you have a g-good reason!"

Hibiki cocked an eyebrow. "You don't know my reason or hers, or whether they're good or not."

"Well, you had an impressive battle record before all that, while she-"

"Enough!"

Ikazuchi had never seen Hibiki mad before. When she darted her eyes towards Inazuma, she was surprised that the girl was unfazed and had a bored expression on her face. _D-did she just roll her eyes_?

Hibiki turned towards her as well. "Flagship's assistant, please discipline this destroyer. Disparaging remarks towards a senior that undermines her authority will not be tolerated." She turned on a heel and left them behind in a huff.

Inazuma sighed. "She's right, nanodesu. I almost forgot that she was also a fellow flagship's assistant now." There was venom in her voice. "For punishment, um, uh, no pudding after dinner. Tonight only."

Dinner was already over. She already had her pudding.

* * *

Hibiki, Inazuma, and all the other flagships and flagship's assistants had been called to a late meeting, so Ikazuchi suddenly found herself without anything to do or anyone to be with before lights out. Nothing better to do, she decided to take a walk around the base to get some fresh air and admire the construction progress. She never even got past the barracks reception desk.

"Ah, hi there... Ikazuchi, is it?" It was Higbee, her new division-mate. She was tonight's Duty NCO.

"Right. _Not_ Kaminari." She winked.

Hatsukaze, the Duty Runner, snickered.

"Eh? What's so funny, who's Kaminari?"

"It's just a kanji reading joke." Hatsukaze patted Higbee in the back.

"Riiight. Y'all are like old people, in love with your puns and wordplay."

The front doors burst open and Hatsuyuki flopped inside.

Higbee stood up behind her desk. "Welcome back Miss Hatsuyuki, is the meeting already over?"

"Huh? Oh, nah. They were just rehashing things from this afternoon. I don't have time for that crap, I have to wake up early tomorrow to make breakfast."

Higbee nodded and returned to her seat. "Looking forward to it."

"Speaking of which." Hatsuyuki dropped a carton on the desk. "Leftovers from the CO's dinner. If it's not enough for the whole night, I left the best midrats on the warmer in the galley, not the mess. Enjoy." She trudged towards the staircase, turning her head back at the end of the hall. "Don't tell anybody I gave you that!"

"Holy moly it's steak and fries." Higbee took a bite. "Holy moly, this is extra juicy."

Hatsuyuki crossed her arms. "The CO sure is living it up." She smiled towards Ikazuchi.

Ikazuchi gave a nervous laugh in reply.

"Hatsuyuki-senpai's living it up too. Breakfast my butt, she's probably in her room playing games. I bet you my half of the fries that we're gonna get a call in a few minutes asking where she is and why she's not at the meeting."

"I'll take it." Higbee munched idly on her half of the steak. "You've worked with her before, Hatsukaze?"

"Yeah... We were both in Kure's replacement destroyer squadron together."

A replacement squadron was basically a holding unit for two types of girls: new summons that had recently finished basic training, as well as experienced shipgirls that had been an extended time away from active duty. Usually, the experienced girls had just finished recovering from injury or completed complex overhauls. During their time as a replacement, shipgirls were expected to take classes, participate in exercises, and maintain their skills in general until a front-line unit had a spot to be filled. Usual tenures were measured in weeks and rarely lasted longer than a couple of months.

"I heard she'd been there for two years," said Ikazuchi. She thought about her own time among Sasebo's replacement destroyers. It hadn't been more than a week until Inazuma picked her up.

"So the rumors said." Hatsukaze leaned back in her chair. "But Shiranui-nee-san told me that was impossible because she was at Lake Biwa last year."

"Ah, I see."

"But it could be true in spirit-For sure she wasn't in a front-line unit before Lake Biwa, so she must have been a replacement, had a spell at Lake Biwa, then came back."

"She's unreliable and a bad influence on Hibiki-nee-san." Ikazuchi was just parroting something she heard from Inazuma over and over again. There was no certainty in her voice-at least not as much certainty as before dinner that day.

"You're telling me. I can't believe she tricked Shiranui-nee-san into covering for her."

"Aw, she doesn't seem all that bad to me." Higbee was staring at the half of the steak she left for Hatsukaze and all the fries. She was practically drooling.

* _Riiing_ *

"Kushimoto Barracks Two, Higbee speaking. This line is unsecured. How may I help you?"

Hatsukaze and Ikazuchi watched her with baited breath.

"Yes ma'am, she passed through the front door ten minutes ago and went straight to her room. Alright ma'am. Thank you ma'am."

"Hah! Called it." Hatsukaze reached for the carton.

Higbee grabbed her hand. "Miss Suzuya only called to ask if she made it safely home."

Since Hatsukaze was at least half-correct, the fries were split 75/25.

* * *

7 Years Before  
Changi Naval Base, Singapore

It was an important naval tradition that kanmusu ate with the enlisted men. Not in the chief's mess, not in the officer's wardroom, but with the lower ratings. There were only two exceptions. First was for the few kanmusu given officer's commissions (none were chiefs or warrants). Second was common sense-sometimes the enlisted mess facilities just overflowed.

On their second night in Singapore, the shipgirls of the ill-fated South China Sea convoy found themselves in the O-club for dinner. The main mess halls had been packed by the Singaporean sailors normally assigned to the base, the crews of the four convoy ships that were able to complete the journey, and the survivors picked up from RSS Formidable, JS Ariake, and JS Teshio.

"Looks like Akatsuki-chan hit a first class lady milestone tonight-getting drinks bought for her by gentlemen at a bar."

"Hibiki! How can you joke about that at a time like this?" Murasame did not approve. Those drinks were tokens of condolence from well-wishers, not icebreakers from lolicons. The Singaporean officers were buying them for other survivors as well, not just shipgirls.

Hibiki and Murasame were sharing a booth with Lieutenant Sugiura Michiko, who had been the Chief Engineer of JS Teshio. Across the aisle from them, at a table that was more exposed and visible to the rest of the club, were Akatsuki, Sazanami, and two JMSDF seamen. Their faces were a roller coaster of expressions-grateful smiles when they received a drink, exasperated annoyance when the giver left to _finally_ give them a chance to eat, then back to smiles when they spotted a new gift-giver approaching after only a couple of bites.

Hibiki's table got drinks as well, but at a slower pace since they were somewhat hidden away and out of notice.

"I'm glad we're being allowed to actually eat our food unlike them, but I would love to get hammered." It was Sugiura. "It would be nice to have help putting that battle behind me."

Murasame exhaled a long sigh. "I'm kinda jealous too. I wish my senpai was here." Most shipgirls, upon being summoned and trained, were assigned an experienced mentor at their first posting in a replacement unit. Akatsuki's mentor had been Sazanami.

Hibiki's eyes twitched.

"Oh crap." Murasame's back straightened. "I'm so sorry, Hibiki."

The girl in question's mentor had been Shiranui.

"Oh come on, you're fine. I have the same wish as well."

"There go your gallows humor again..."

* * *

"Okay, _now_ I feel like shit." Hibiki announced.

"What's up? Drank too much?" Asked Murasame. "Does it have to do with how you've been checking out your phone all night?"

"The second one. I messaged Shiranui-san's senpai this morning. It said _message read_ when we sat down for dinner, but after a couple of hours she still hasn't responded."

"Yikes. I hope Hatsuyuki-san will be alright."

* * *

A/N:

This was a slice of garrison life, the next chapter will be more action-packed


	4. Chapter 4 - Dusk Till Dawn

**CHAPTER 4: DUSK TILL DAWN**

Present Day, Osaka Bay, North of Wakayama City

"Dreamer 2, this is Hayasui. I found her! I have eyes on her, 8 nautical miles northwest of me." The Replenishment Oiler's fairy lookouts had spotted the frigate JS Chikugo using their fairy binoculars from Hayasui's tall compass bridge. The sight had instantly transmitted to her brain as if she were seeing it herself.

The ship shouldn't have been visible over the horizon from her own physical human shape's height. Radar, sonar, ESM, and other sensors were just as good as eyes and ears for a shipgirl as well. Human researchers had spent a decade and a half trying to get to the root of all that sparkly magical bullshit with only a dozen nervous breakdowns and mental hospital stays to show for it.

"How the hell did you find her before we did?!" Yuubari had been coordinating the search for the JMSDF frigate from aboard Dreamer 2, one of Kushimoto's assigned helicopters. They had criss-crossed over the Osaka Bay for the past two hours and found nothing. Dreamer 1 had also been searching, along with a flight of Hayasui's Tenzan torpedo bombers and her lone HRP Rescuer helicopter.

"Ehehe. I just stumbled on her by accident, Dreamer 2. She's actually outside our search area, drifting towards Awaji-shima."

Yuubari groaned. As they were ashore, the CO and XO couldn't possibly be looking over her shoulder. But she could swear she could feel the heavy weight of their stares pressing against her back. "What's her status?"

"She's listing to port! No smoke and no wake. I don't see anyone on deck, but I might just be too far to make them out."

"Roger. Have you tried to make contact on VHF?"

"Yep, no response on any channel. I'll use my signal lamp when I get close enough."

"This is Dreamer 1, we can be there in 10 minutes. We're swinging around to pick up DesDiv29 first, they're the closest."

Yuubari rubbed her temples. "Head straight to Chikugo after you pick up Inazuma and Higbee, I'll get DesDiv30 there a different way."

"Eh? You're totally out of position, I can get both destroyer groups there before you can get to any one of them."

"No, we're heading for the minesweepers. Hayasui, have your HRP prepare its sling."

* * *

When Hatsuyuki deployed to sortie that morning, she was ' _nervous'_. She hadn't operated as a kanmusu outside visual range of a base in years. She couldn't use the excuse of needing to make food-the day's three meals had been tasked to Akitsushima _specifically_ so that Hatsuyuki could go out. Her lucky ducky division-mate Hatsuzuki was allowed to stay home, as she had been on CQ duty the night before and was therefore entitled to an entire day of rest. Her flagship Hatsushimo, along with that of DesDiv29's Hibiki, was at the CO's side.

Ruminating on all that had upgraded her mood to ' _furious_ '. When the search for JS Chikugo reached its second fruitless hour, with her clothes (especially her socks) drenched in salt water and her eyes stung by spray, she became ' _extremely_ _furious_ '.

But now that she was hanging tight on a rope ladder underslung a magical fairy-sized helicopter, all that anger and resentment had washed away. She was now ' _pants-pissing scared_ '. She probably hadn't actually done that literally, but she was soaked to her bones and incredibly sticky. Whatever liquid she had all over her was freezing cold.

"Whee!" Her only division-mate present, Hatsukaze, clearly felt different.

* * *

Present Day, Temporary Command Post, JMSDF Naval Supply Depot Wakayama City

"Thank God they found Chikugo already. I was 15 minutes from calling in."

"Please be patient with them, Suzuya-san." Akatsuki admonished. "We can't micromanage from the rear, we have to let them develop their own initiative."

Suzuya held back a snort. She'd just spent the past two hours watching her CO fidgeting in her chair and occasionally standing up to pace around the room.

The radio once again erupted in noise. It was Yuubari, but it wasn't intended for them. Once more, the other two members of the command team had to sit tight and listen without giving input.

"Haysui, drop them off on the forward VERTREP area. Hatsukaze, once you've landed, run up the forecastle and rig the ship for towing, but don't throw down a line until Wanna and Chickadee give the all clear. Hatsuyuki, head straight for the bridge and find out the status of the crew."

* * *

Present Day, JS Chikugo, Osaka Bay

 _Ugh. So many ladders._ Hatsuyuki's legs were wobbly when she touched down. They were now additionally on fire. Navigating up four levels on a listing ship did not improve her fatigued state, but she was back to being angry instead of terrified. If only she could ask the crew that she'd passed to carry her up, but alas...

"Dreamer 2, I finally got to the bridge."

"How did it take you that long?!"

 _Tchk._ "The crew is dead. Everyone I passed on the way as well as everyone here."

"Oh great. Just great. Go down to Damage Control Central next and report status."

"I have no idea where that is."

"Uh... Ask a crew member?"

"Yuubari-san..."

"Oh come on, it couldn't hurt."

* * *

Present Day, Temporary Command Post, JMSDF Naval Supply Depot Wakayama City

"Wow, Captain Sugiura does not screw around." Suzuya whistled.

"First the list, now this... I'm sure everyone above the main deck is dead and everyone below is stranded and wounded and will have to be guided out by hand."

"Poor Hatsuyuki-chan."

* * *

Present Day, JS Chikugo, Osaka Bay

Once Wanna and Chickadee finished clearing the mines surrounding the ship, DesDiv29 approached Chikugo at high speed-Inazuma charging off towards the bow to receive a line from Hatsukaze, and Higbee towards the stern to climb aboard via a rope ladder that had thankfully already been deployed.

She was met by Hatsuyuki on the quarterdeck, who was surrounded by a dozen figures laid out on their backs.

"Everything forward of Frame 40 is supposed to be flooded up to the second platform, so don't bother going there. I already cleared most of the midships compartments above the engine spaces but I need help with the rest."

Higbee stared at the crew members on the deck.

"Ugh." Hatsuyuki noticed her puzzled expression. "Could the guys who are only wounded at least sit up so we can tell you apart from the dead? And stop looking up my skirt!"

* * *

Present Day, Temporary Command Post, JMSDF Naval Supply Depot Wakayama City

"That could have gone better." Yuubari was splayed out on an office couch. "I should have dropped _all_ the destroyers on the ship instead of having half of them wait and do nothing while the mines were taken care of."

"Don't be so down," said Commander Sugiura, skipper of the Chikugo. "You actually cleared the mines first. Most commanders get so impatient they forget to check, then **_boom_**."

"Don't second-guess yourself, Yuubari-san." Akatsuki began her AAR. "Having only two onboard slowed down the rescue of the wounded crew and the damage control efforts, but having two outside ensured the minesweepers would have been safe if there were abyssals lurking around. Yes, crew members would have died that you could have rescued, but it's better than the alternative scenario where everyone dies because you neglected force protection."

* * *

"Thank you for letting us use your ship for an exercise, Sugiura-san." Akatsuki had changed into her dress whites from her standard kanmusu sailor outfit when she found out that Sugiura was going to follow Kushimoto's exercise team ashore. She stood in contrast to the frigate captain she was trying to impress, who was in her working uniform of blue coveralls.

"No problem, Akatsuki-chan! My people got great use out of it as well-I induced that list for them as much as for your girls." She remembered Kushimoto's helicopter crews. "And boys."

"Could you, ah, please not use that honorific when there are others around..."

"Commander!" Sugiura was wide-eyed. "You and I are peers in every sense and we have gone through _so much_ together. Can't you give your old friend this one itty-bitty indulgence?"

"U-umm..."

"Just kidding! I just love seeing you squirm. Don't worry, I promise to stop calling you Akatsuki-chan, Akatsuki-chan."

* * *

7 Years Before, Changi Naval Base, Singapore

"H-haaa?! That's unbelievable. How can it be impossible to cross such a small distance?" Murasame pulled her twintails straight down in frustration.

Days after the battle-no, massacre-7th Fleet and allied forces attempted to probe the South China Sea to clear its sealanes for traffic and conduct search and rescue operations. All were repelled. USS Montpelier, a nuclear submarine, barely made it to Manila under her own power and was deemed a constructive loss on arrival. Shipgirl cruiser Leander and shipgirl submarines I-8, Haddo, and Comandante Cappellini failed to report back and were presumed sunk.

"It's the Spratlys." Lieutenant Sugiura lolled her chin on a desk. "It's been a no-go zone for twelve years, but it's turned to something else this week. It's like every little coral atoll and every low tide rock became a Hime-class fortress. And hundreds more islands and weird structures have popped up on top of that. It's a miracle we even know about this-all overflights keep getting shot down."

"I thought that kind of thing was behind us. I thought we were winning!" Akatsuki fidgeted in her seat.

When the Abyssal war started a decade prior, these kind of losses were common as humanity and the shipgirls fought on the backfoot. Slowly but surely they got it under control until travel by air and sea became relatively safe again (if you brought heavy firepower, of course). You'd hear about an isolated steel ship or kanmusu being lost once every couple of months, but it was as if there wasn't a war anymore-just a bunch of patrols to ward off occasional stray beasts. But just like that, the bad old days suddenly returned.

"Thailand."

"Hibiki?" Akatsuki turned to her sister.

"Why can't we just travel overland through the Kra Isthmus? Bypass the South China Sea then get home that way."

"We probably can." Sugiura stretched in her seat and yawned. With nothing to do, the JMSDF personnel and shipgirls had taken over various spare offices and broom closets in Changi Naval Base to wait out their days. "Someone higher up must be planning the logistics of it all. We have, I dunno, a few hundred Japanese personnel to move, with a few hundred more Americans, Chinese, and Filipinos as well."

"And who knows how long _that_ will take!" Akatsuki had enough. "Why aren't we talking with the Singaporean shipgirls? While we're here we should be helping them out instead of just lazing around."

Sugiura snorted. "Come on, Akatsuki-chan, it's not like that didn't cross everyone else's minds. We're just waiting for the order to do it. The higher ups are probably in the middle of working it all out."

Akatsuki pulled the sides of her cap down. "What if the higher ups forgot?"

"Oh come on, Akatsuki-chan, that would just be stupid" Murasame rolled her eyes.

* * *

"That was just stupid!" Murasame found herself pulling down her twintails again. "How do you forget to order us to cooperate?!"

"To be fair, they assumed they already sent the order." Hibiki stroked her chin. "Though it was pretty stupid not to ever follow up for three whole days."

Sugiura groaned. "I'm getting flashbacks of OCS when one of my instructors kept going 'initiative this' and 'initiative that'."

Murasame raised one of her eyebrows. "How is it that Akatsuki-chan, out of the hundreds of us stranded here, was the only one with the initiative to call Yokosuka and ask about it?"

* * *

7 Years Before, Tuas Naval Base, Singapore

"Welcome, Murasame-san and Hibiki-san!" Republic of Singapore Navy shipgirl Kamikaze bowed to her countrymen. "Ah, you two as well, Sazanami-san, Akatsuki-chan."

"Hey, wai-"

"We were wondering when you all would be sent over. Myoukou-san and Takao-san wanted to throw a welcoming party, but they left to do an escort run this morning."

A tall kanmusu with long, flowing red hair walked up behind Kamikaze with a disapproving expression. "Like I told you lot yesterday, I think festivities of any kind after what they've just been through would be incredibly inappropriate."

"Ah, this is Repulse."

"Nice to meet you." She said in perfect Japanese as she curtsied, before continuing in English. "Welcome to the RSN's shipgirl force. I'm sorry about the circumstances that brought you to us, but at the same time I'm quite relieved that we are going to get some extra help. We've been run ragged this past year just trying to keep the straits open, much less escorting this country's merchant traffic overseas."

"T-thanks." Akatsuki only knew a few words of English. "Eto..."

"Ah, my apologies." Repulse returned to speaking Japanese. "Please follow us to the commander's office so we can get you up to speed. We don't know how long we can hold onto you girls, but I hope we can at least keep you busy here before you can go home."

* * *

Present Day, JMSDF Naval Supply Depot Wakayama City

"Damn, that's a good idea, I'm gonna steal it." Captain Sugiura stroked her chin.

Akatsuki had scheduled the whole day for excercises, but the "rescue" of JS Chikugo and a follow-up mock battle between DesDivs 29 and 30 took only until the early afternoon. As for the remaining daylight, she authorized six hours of liberty in the city for her shipgirls and helicopter crews before they would return to Kushimoto that night.

"Will it be alright?" Akatsuki asked.

"Eh, as far as my commodore knows, my ship was at your disposal for the whole day. I'll anchor off the harbor and bring everyone ashore by boat. If I don't moor off the pier, I don't have to leave a paper trail."

"Umm, your logs..."

"I was in a holding pattern, that's all."

* * *

Present Day, Wakayama City

The Kushimoto personnel had split into three groups in the city. Hatsukaze, Higbee, Inazuma, and the minesweepers wandered off to a shopping center and ended up in its arcade. Hayasui, Yubari, and Suzuya, had followed them at first but split off to do clothes shopping before ending their day doing karaoke with the helicopter crews. Hatsuyuki and Hibiki had immediately brought Hatsushimo to the most grimy back alley in the entire prefecture and pulled her into its seediest bar.

"Ah! Hatsuyuki-san, Hibiki-san!"

"Shichiro." Hatsuyuki nodded.

"It's been so many months since we've seen either of you. Even longer since we've seen you _together_. Is this young lady with you also a shipgirl?"

Hatsushimo bowed. "Aye. I was based in Ominato until last week, so I'm not really familiar with the JMSDF haunts in this area."

The man's nostrils flared and his lips curled up into a grin at the mention of the JMSDF. "Ehehe, we don't actually get many sailors here. I hope your stay in Lake Biwa hasn't been too uncomfortable so far."

"Ah, no, Shichiro." It was Hibiki that replied. "We're not AWOL right now. We just got a few hours of liberty after an operation."

"My mistake. By the way, you still have a whole bottle of shochu that we've been keeping since your last visit."

"That's a good start." Hibiki pulled out her wallet. "I hope you have a lot more in stock for tonight."

* * *

Shichiro was not lying that he normally didn't host sailors, but with two hundred of them wandering Wakayama City from JS Chikugo, chances were good that some were bound to end up at his bar by accident. Luckily for the three destroyer girls, they had a dark corner with a makeshift privacy partition, and the Shichiro was quite familiar with their need to be discreet (even if they weren't ditching work this time). Despite this, they could clearly hear the sailors just beyond the partition.

"Ah! Captain Sugiura is always such a hardass!"

"No kidding bro, I was working the pumps for the trim and list. It was a huge pain, the chief engineer wasn't happy."

"Did you see her with that little girl, though? I swear that's the first time I saw the captain without a scowl on her face."

"Eh, who wouldn't smile around such a cute-"

"Dude."

"Bro."

"Yeah man, that's disgusting, she's like a little ki-"

"That's not what I meant! Stop looking at me like that! It was the uniform. It was like a friggin officer cosplay."

"Oh, right, yeah. It was a little off. I dunno why, it's not like the captain was that much taller than her."

"Naw, I know why it was off. She was wearing an American uniform instead of a Japanese one."

"For real? I thought she was one of ours. She looks Japanese."

"Yeah, I used to be stationed at Yokosuka, I saw that uniform all the time. Maybe she's a Japanese-American shipgirl."

"No, there's no such thing, we woulda heard about it."

"You moron, we have Fletcher-class Ariake and Yugure. The Americans have Akizuki-class Hanazuki."

"Oh. I guess if they're stationed at Yokosuka or something, then I'd never know."

"Oh my God, you actually are a moron. The two Fletchers are in Kure with us! Still, I didn't hear about either of them getting commissioned as officers."

"Speaking of that, did you catch a glimpse of Lieutenant Commander Suzuya?"

"Yeah, yikes."

"The prettier they are, the more trouble they cause."

"And that's why it's my official policy never to fraternize with kanmusu."

"Haha, fuck off, as if they'd even _look_ at you."

* * *

Hatsushimo exhaled visibly when the sailors finally left after an hour. "Well, that was awkward."

Hatsuyuki just groaned while palming the top of her head with both hands.

"Oh come on, if I wanted to sit in the dark and drink quietly, I would have just stayed at Lake Biwa...and gone AWOL." Hibiki began to pour shochu for her two companions. "So. How have you both been?"

* * *

 **A/N** : Oh dear, what a long gap between chapters! Sorry about that. I suddenly stopped having time to work on this, but that only lasted one month at most. I continued holding off until I could be sure I wouldn't be interrupted again. Aaaand I could have resumed writing a month after _that_. But I didn't, and I let that fire burn in the back of my mind until yesterday, when it spilled out and consumed my brain. So I'm back, and so is Akatsuki Teitoku.


End file.
